The division was created in April 1943 in Yugoslavia from the remnants of the 714th Infantry Division, which had been formed in April 1941 with the task of fighting against Tito's partisans. It was urgently transferred to Italy under the command of the 14th Army at the end of January 1944, where, on the 28th, it deployed its Kampfgruppe Berger - based on the 721st Jäger Regiment - in the area of Anzio and Nettuno, towards Cisterna and Aprilia, participating in the attempt to repel the Allied forces at sea.

Towards the end of March, it was transferred to the LI Gebirgs Korps to keep the central-eastern part of the Gustav Line under control, effectively opposing the Allied offensive of June 11 and retreating in an orderly manner along mountain roads north of Rome to avoid encirclement and heading east.

Towards the end of June, its units were concentrated on the Adriatic coast in reserve for the 10th Army, still under the command of the LI Gebirgs Korps. In July, it continued its slow retreat into Umbria. It held the passes and crossings on the Tiber River above Perugia, then towards Nocera and Montone, as far as Arezzo.

At the end of August, it was transferred from the foothills of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines to the Adriatic front, first in the Forlì area and then to the east of San Marino. During this period, the division was reduced to a total force of 3,000 combatants. On September 12, it was southwest of San Marino; on the 16th, it withdrew from the upper course of the Foglia River to shorten the front; on the 22nd, it held the Monte Conero - Pietracuta line; on the 23rd, it withdrew along the Urso River; on September 29, along the Christa line north of the Rubicone River; on October 5, it fought against the Indians in Sogliano; on the 11th in Carpineta, on the 18th it retreated towards Cesena, covered by the action of the Tigers of s.Pz.Abt.504.
In the fighting between August 25 and September 30, the division lost 650 men, including dead, wounded, and prisoners. The intense fighting in October led to the loss of 2,400 men.

After sustaining further fighting on the Ronco River at the end of November, the 114th Division moved to San Pancrazio to defend Ravenna; on December 4, it repelled a Canadian attack on the Lamone River and two attempts by the Allies to break through northeast of Russi. On these occasions too, the losses of men were heavy.

At the end of the year, the division was north of Ravenna, then in Bagnacavallo, and was subsequently placed in reserve behind the Comacchio valleys. In the early months of 1945, it suffered many losses due to Allied air raids. Replacements were now mainly Poles. Desertions increased and the will to fight declined significantly, both because of the situation on the various fronts, which could now only have one outcome, and because of the cold.

In February, some units of the division were moved from the Adriatic sector to the mountains southwest of Bologna to reinforce the German defenses, which were under attack from the American 10th Mountain Division and the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. It entered into battle with the 232nd Infantry Division on the Monte Belvedere front, which it took over on March 2, 1945.

At that time, the artillery was in short supply, as was ammunition, so that cannons, howitzers, and mortars could only be used in the event of a direct attack and not for counter-battery or disruption fire. Given the overwhelming air supremacy and the powerful use of artillery by the Allies, the German pieces were carefully hidden and false targets were created to divert Allied aircraft fire from the real targets. The division's fighting force consisted of about 2,600 men, and the 721st Regiment was composed of only two battalions.

From the beginning of the Allied Spring Offensive, the division faced fierce fighting alongside the 232nd Infantry Division in the defense of the Montese stronghold, which was captured by Brazilian soldiers on April 16 after heavy fighting.

From April 19, it began to retreat towards the Panaro valley to avoid encirclement and surrendered only at the end of the war in Italy on May 2, 1945.

The 114th was a division that did not prove to be very reliable upon its arrival in Italy, although with the passage of time it gained experience and managed to compensate for the chronic shortage of men and equipment, so much so that a company of the pz.Jg.Abt was equipped with Italian M42 self-propelled guns, which were also present in some command tanks. However, vehicles were extremely scarce.

Source: Notes from my friend Daniele Guglielmi